That Atypical Day
by SunnyHinata
Summary: One of those simple, non angsty, non violent, no unrequited love short stories that have no purpose.


Tenten stood on the edge of the field, watching Neji. One hand sat lazily on her hip, while the other hand held a kunai that she aimlessly played with. She didn't fear injury from the object. She knew it even better than the back of her hand, literally. She also knew that Neji would realize she was there, if he hadn't already, and then he'd wonder what she was doing, staring him down from five hundred feet away. She sighed without being conscious of it, and started to trek across the grassy field, still swinging the kunai. Neji was just a big mystery, waiting to be figured out. Well, at least that's what Tenten thought.

Neji was just having one of those days, where _man_, it was just very hard to concentrate. The bark on the tree behind him was too rough, and it was poking through his shirt. He tried to adjust himself, so as to rid himself of the annoyance, but then the grass beneath him began to scratch the exposed skin near his ankles, the only area that his pants did not quite cover. As soon as he fixed that, the wind started to blow, making it not quite warm, but not cold enough to actually say that he felt cold.

He almost sighed, but sighing was not something that Neji did. Neji did not do anything excess, such as sighing, laughing, or smiling. He didn't speak much. Well, it's not as if he didn't want to, but he didn't much see a need for words most of the time. Usually a look was all it took for him to convey what he was trying to say to someone. People that knew him well enough had an easier time understanding his looks. His team, which consisted of Lee, Gai, and Tenten, knew him better than most. Neji never shared much to them about his personal life. They knew that he lived in a large network of houses that all added up to the lot of land that was owned by the Hyuga family. They knew he had a very strict uncle, and that his uncle trained him privately.

Eh, but was just the general stuff. There was obviously more to Neji than a fated branch member. He was the kind of person that could sit for hours, thinking about nothing in particular, and sometimes particular things. He could dissect all of his thoughts, and place them into categories, deciding whether or not they were of importance, or whether to burry the information and hide it, in hopes that it would be forgotten and no longer take up space in his mind.

So this was rare for him; this not being able to concentrate. He could always sit, think, and figure out his thoughts. Never before had Neji had this much trouble focusing. Well, unless he was trying to do his deep thinking in the presence of Gai and Lee. Those two were complete brain blocks. Getting anything done with them around was near impossible, because believe him, he'd tried it before. It always resulted in him becoming increasingly frustrated until he finally told them quit it, or Tenten did it for him.

Thank goodness he actually had one mildly sensible person on his team. Tenten usually seemed to be on the same wavelength with him when it came to Lee and Gai. 'Shut up before I make you shut up' was most often what was being thought by the both of them. His teammate also seemed to have a bit more tact than the bowl cut duo did, as well as most of the girls near or of their age. She was always one of those levelheaded girls that weren't into being girly. She was a self respecting person that respected others as well. She took things seriously when they needed to be taken seriously, and she got the job done, whatever the job was.

One of Neji's eyes opened as he felt someone intrude upon his quiet not-quite-sanctuary. _Hm, speak of the devil and he shall appear_, he absentmindedly recited. He didn't move at all as Tenten approached, save for closing his eye. The young ninja continued to try and meditate, though he suspected that Tenten would not just walk over and say nothing. Not that it mattered; he couldn't even begin to concentrate, so what would one conversation do to his meditation? Not much.

Tenten had figured out that being with someone like Neji gave you a complex. Because even though it was kind of a standard thing for a ninja to do, (you know, analyzing people) she always felt compelled to try to pick up information on peoples' behaviors, thought patterns, and actions even when it wasn't required of her, because at the least it was good training, and at the most she might figure out something useful.

So when she finally got within comfortable speaking distance of her target, she stopped twiddling with the knife and put it into her pocket. She then retied one of her hair buns, and started in on speaking. "Hello," she greeted, not exactly expecting a reply.

"Hello." His lips moved fractionally, but he did not open his eyes.

"You look a bit stressed," she observed, half smiling. She stopped walking and stood comfortably a few feet in front of him.

"Do I," he responded, not actually inflicting any question in his words.

"Well, you usually have an effortlessly blank look on your face, but today you looked like you were having trouble keeping it there."

"Ah."

"Yep, so what's wrong?" she asked. He finally opened his eyes and spared her a glance.

"I'm having trouble focusing my mind."

"Hm, I'm probably not helping you out much then." Neji didn't reply, but he closed his eyes once more. Tenten deliberated for a moment while scratching her head. She dropped to the ground slowly, and crossed her legs.

"Gai invited us to train with him and Lee later."

"I see. At what time and what place?"

"Well, I don't exactly know where. I'm guessing the grounds where he and Lee usually are. Uh… I think Gai-sensei said three o'clock. Should I tell him that you're coming?" Tenten inquired, mildly interested in his answer. If he came, she wouldn't be so much of a third wheel. Even though Gai and Lee always tried overly hard to include her in everything that they did during training, there was only so much she wanted to or could stand to participate in with those two.

"I'll have to go home and check my schedule."

Tenten blinked at him, and then barked a short laugh. "Bullshit. You don't have a schedule." She uncrossed her legs and started tapping randomly on the grass with her fingers. Neji paused for a beat or two, opening his eyes. They made short, quick movements, reading her face.

"I might have something that I need to do later," he said blankly. She looked at him imploringly. "Which is none of your business." If it had been anyone else that had said this to Tenten, she might have found it rude. But with Neji,… Naw, it was very typical. Still, she couldn't help the slight curiosity that she held towards his words. She knew that he often had clan affairs that he needed to attend to, and he also had missions with people other than just her, Lee, and Gai. It was just the way he said what he had said. He had hesitated on his words. Tenten knew that Neji hardly hesitated when speaking.

_He's hiding something… I think._ "Alright-y then. I'll let them know." The girl stood up, grabbing the kunai from her pocket and beginning anew the dizzying spin of the knife on her fingers. "They'll be so disappointed that you won't be there to work on your… 'blossoming youth'… or whatever. Such a shame."

"Goodbye, Tenten." Neji said dismissively, moving for hopefully the last time in the next hour or so. Tenten started to back away from Neji, holding both arms behind her back, stopping the spin of the weapon.

"And they'll be so sorry that you're missing it for some mysterious plans you couldn't be bothered to tell me about." It was a dumb, the way she tried to bait him. She knew it wouldn't work, but at least he knew that she knew that he was hiding something now. Neji made a small noise in the back of his throat. Whether he was in agreement or not, she decided to leave it at that… sort of.

"Bye." And then she strode away from him, making quick time out of the field. Returning back to his quiet sanctum, Neji tried harder than before to block everything out.


End file.
